Thanks, Vermont: Keep raising those wages

Under a new law signed by Gov. Pete Shumlin on Monday, Vermont will increase its minimum wage every January until it reaches $10.50 an hour in 2018. In 2007, Vermont indexed its minimum wage to inflation, forcing it up annually. Only seven years later, Vermont legislators mandated even faster increases.

The mandated wage hikes probably are not over. There is a movement to expand on Burlington’s livable wage ordinance, which mandates that employers who do business with the city pay a “livable wage.” A statewide livable wage mandate for all businesses is what many activists want.

Though some border-town residents of New Hampshire might be encouraged to seek work in Vermont now, they will be less likely to find it. The new law probably will prove a drag on employment, sending Vermonters to New Hampshire to look for work.